[SOLVED] Thermal paste is bad, or just need better air flow?

[mangaman]

Recently bought an HP Pavilion Gaming 15 laptop with the Ryzen 4800H and GTX 1660 TI max Q. Great laptop but only one major issue, the thermals don't look right. Using Prime95 to stress test the CPU, I loaded 8 workers instead of 16 to see where the base line would be ( since the 4800H is a 8 core 16 threaded CPU). At ~66.3 watts, the CPU was at 97.9c while only at 50.5% load. Idling is around 40-50c with only 1-5% CPU utilization.

Not sure if these thermals are alright, but I've noticed that when lifting my laptop up for better airflow, the number do go slightly down. Around 2-3c, although it could be the placebo effect coming into play.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

Yes, the thermals are roughly where they should be.

First things first though, Prime95 is mostly meant for stressing CPU's to find minor instabilities in voltage going to the CPU. I would advise not to use it on your laptop apart from just running it for a short time (just a few minutes). Running Prime95 on a laptop with a very limited thermal solution will just burn the fans out after a while. Running Cinebench R15/20/23 on multicore or a loop will stress the CPU enough to gauge stability but not overwhelm the cooling system

Most gaming laptops run hot. AMD and Intel both. There are a few things you can do to mitigate this.

1. As you've pointed out, lifting the laptop allows more cool air to get into the intake fans and run through the cooling pipes to cool the CPU/GPU. Getting a good laptop cooling pad will see a reduction of about 10c at idle, and about 3-5c at load. I use a klim cyclone on my Omen 15. But there are many options.

2. If you have Gaming Hub, you may have the option to use an undervolt utility that's built in to undervolt your CPU. This can have a hug impact. there is a Ryzen based app for undervolting. I can't think of the name now, but will find it for you (Renoir Mobile Tuning Version 1.0.0 Release Candidates : AMDLaptops (reddit.com) ). There are many guides to do this. By undervolting, you reduce the voltage going to the CPU which reduces heat, and then allows the CPU to boost for longer to it's highest speeds. Another benefit is your fans won't spin up as much.

3. Consider changing your thermal paste for something better than the generic stuff that most laptop manufacturers use during assembly. I've become a thermal paste scientist in the last year, and have assembled/disassembled my laptop many times and each time, trying different thermal paste

I'm currently settled on Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste which has given my best temps. I've also tried Arctic MX4 /AS5/Cooler master. Good paste will reduce your temps even further again. And noticeably. My i7 9750h would run up to 96c whilst playing BF5 after about 5 mins of playing. Whilst the chip is designed to run at these temps, the fans ramp up, and the temps feel uncomfortable. Now, with these three things changed, I can run the CPU at full tilt 4ghz all core and temps don't go over 80c. The difference is night and day.

Some posters might say that you will void your warranty by undervolting, but I understand HP are not one of those who do.

However, repasting the CPU will void the warranty. But it's worth doing regardless of the warranty.

 

[InvalidError]

Having more airflow under the laptop definitely helps, that's why there are tons of laptop cooling stands to raise the laptop from the desk, many of which with a fan or two to help move fresh air under it.

My younger sister had a laptop that would shut down from overheating and it turned out the heatsinks were packed with dust.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

When you consider how much empty space there is inside the average desktop PC compared to a laptop, it's little wonder the laptop loses out on cooling efficiency.